Irish bow is best for history Boyd
REPORTS BOYD RANKIN admits his first taste of Test cricket was not as sweet as he hoped, but when he steps out for Ireland tomorrow he is determined to savour every moment of his second.
The fast bowler, 33, will create a little piece of history within history as Ireland play their first-ever Test match against Pakistan at Malahide, north of Dublin, becoming the first man to play Test cricket for two countries since Kepler Wessels appeared for Australia and South Africa in the Eighties and Nineties.
Rankin’s initial experience of five-day cricket with England could safely be described as a horror show given he suffered a torn cartilage in his shoulder two days before, was racked with nerves in the match, and then hampered by cramp.
He admitted it left him so low he seriously considered quitting cricket.
“It was quite a tough period,” he said. “There were a few days when I first came back when I was thinking, ‘Should I still be playing cricket?’ But I learnt a lot from it and it made me a stronger person.”
Rankin has played county cricket in England since 2006, latterly and largely with Warwickshire – this season is likely to be his last with the Bears – and turned his back on Ireland in 2012 to pursue dreams of Test cricket with England, eventually getting his call-up in January 2014 for the final Ashes Test in Sydney.
When that career amounted to just one outing, Rankin was forced to reassess and eventually came to the conclusion his future lay back with Ireland. He switched back at the end of 2015.
The 6ft 8in Rankin, whose family farm cattle and sheep five miles outside Derry and who has a degree in agriculture, might have been forgiven for thinking tomorrow’s historic first Test would not have come around for him. But Ireland’s accession to the top table for Test cricket has come just in time and through their inclusion in the ICC future tours programme, it should not be his last. “A lot of the lads have been waiting for this chance for a long time,” said Rankin. “Ed Joyce has played a lot of cricket and was pretty unlucky not to play a Test for England. “Someone like him stands out, because he’s 39 and probably will not get many more opportunities to play Test cricket.”
It has been a long road travelled for Ireland, who, along with Afghanistan, were finally awarded Test-nation status by the ICC in June last year after a dogged and prolonged campaign.
And while winning matches will not be easy, either this week against a Pakistan side preparing for a two-Test series against England or in a climate renowned for its rain, for many the battle has already been won.
“It’s going to be massive for everyone and there will be nerves around but we want to do well. The main thing is to try to enjoy it as much as you can,” said Rankin.
“Pakistan are obviously a dangerous team who have played a lot of Test cricket but they haven’t had a lot of match practice in England so hopefully we can catch them off guard. We just want to show what we can do and if we can compete with them it would be a great start.
“Home conditions should help, but they have a decent bowling attack so they can make use of them as well.
“We have to take our opportunities but we have a great chance. It’ll be a case of trying to do the basics well, like we have done over the last 10 years.”
Ireland host Australia next year ahead of the Ashes and have dates with Sri Lanka, England, New Zealand and South Africa pencilled in to a programme of 16 matches in the next five years.
Rankin will not be around to play in all of them, but it means the world to him to be there for the first.